We probably won’t see BlackBerry’s latest phone in SA

BlackBerry has launched the Aurora – a capable, budget Android handset – which will both be manufactured and sold exclusively in Indonesia.

Here’s the thing. We’ve railed on BlackBerry constantly for coming up with dull product names (DTEK 60 – soak that in) and now we finally have the chance to take a step back with the company’s newest product, the Aurora. Unfortunately, we’ll most likely never be able to hold the device in our hands.

The BlackBerry Aurora has launched as an exclusive for Indonesians; a cunning move for the Canadian company, given that the territory is one of few regions left that has widely devoted itself to BlackBerry Messenger and not WhatsApp.

To that end, the BlackBerry Aurora will be manufactured in Indonesia through BB Merah Putih – a licensee partner firm that is associated with the Indonesia mobile carrier Telkomsel.

For the equivalent of $262 USD, Indonesian BlackBerry fans will be treated to a convincing budget device; present is a Snapdragon 425 SoC, 4GB of RAM, and 32GB of storage. There’s also the fact that the Aurora stakes out its own design territory apart from the likes of the Priv or KEYone.

Users will further benefit from a 3,000mAh non-removable battery, and can make use of the Aurora’s 13-megapixel primary camera and 8-megapixel secondary shooter. The device is further the first dual-SIM handset in BlackBerry’s incumbent product range.

While the Aurora is unlikely to sell in a quantity as great as its international counterparts, the device should be an interesting affair for Indonesians. We can only hope that BlackBerry might introduce the device to our shores at a later stage.